MAHLKONIG X54 ALLROUND COFFEE GRINDER REVIEW: OVERPRICED?

Does the first Mahlkonig home grinder live up to the brand’s storied reputation?

Mahlkonig is easily the most famous name in commercial coffee grinders, but until recently, they’ve steered clear of the home market. Released in 2021, the X54 Allround is the brand’s first coffee grinder designed for home use.

It arrived with plenty of hype, but does the reality meet expectations? Did Mahlkonig innovate and add something new to the space? Or are they just trading on their reputation to make a quick buck? I tested the X54 to find out.

Testing the X54

In this section, I’ll dig into the details of the new offering, including design, operation, and durability. I’ll sum it all up by considering whether it’s good value for money, which – spoiler alert – is where I think this grinder falters a little. Realistically, any Mahlkonig grinder is a good grinder, but the question is whether it’s worth your hard-earned cash.

How I rated it

• Grinding Capability
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

• Ease of Use
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

• Design
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

• Durability
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

• Value for Money
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

3.8

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What Is The X54?

The X54 is a prosumer coffee grinder designed for all-around use, meaning it’s suitable for espresso and filter coffee. It has high-quality stainless steel 54mm flat burrs and a 120 W motor (1).

Is the Mahlkoenig X54 good for espresso?

In my testing, the X54 grinder performed better for espresso than drip coffee. The full spectrum of settings yields grind sizes from roughly 200 to 1000 microns, but I noted the best grind uniformity at the lower end of this range, between about 300 and 600 microns.

The grind consistency dropped off noticeably at the tail ends of the spectrum. I wouldn’t recommend this grinder if your go-to brewing method is Turkish coffee, French press, or cold brew.

How fast does the X54 grind?

The 54 mm burrs spin at 1050 rpm, outputting grounds at about 1.5 – 2.5 grams per second, depending on grind size. It took me between 15 and 20 seconds to grind 20 grams of coffee for a double shot of espresso – or less than 10 seconds to grind enough for a V60 pour over.

Grind retention

I generally don’t worry as much about grind retention when I’m not testing a single-dosing grinder, but it’s always worth considering with flat burrs. Their geometry can lead to trapped coffee grounds. 

I was impressed with the low retention of the X54, though not surprised given Mahlkonig’s long history of engineering grinders. I measured no more than 0.5 grams retained, and Sprudge magazine’s Zac Cadwalader noted similar results.

I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as “whisper-quiet” myself, but I did find this grinder impressively silent for being so powerful. It was similar to Eureka’s famously quiet Mignon Silenzio.

Grind adjustment

The grind adjustment mechanism is best described as a hybrid between stepped and stepless. It has firm start and end points with 35 marked grind settings in between, but within those 35 settings, the adjustment knob moves freely, giving you infinite grind size options.

I think this design makes a lot of sense for an all-around grinder. It facilitates making large adjustments back and forth when changing brew methods while also allowing the precision to dial in an espresso shot. For comparison, the dial on my Eureka Mignon Specialita is poorly marked and can rotate multiple times. So if you change the grind setting significantly, finding your way back to espresso grind feels impossible.

Using The Grinder

Ease of use is the defining feature of the X54. It is clearly built by a company with decades of experience knowing what baristas want – and don’t want – from a product. It’s intuitive to set up and program, even without the included user’s manual, and the digital LED display is clear and bright. 

You can pre-program four grind times for different brewing sizes and methods or run the manual mode. While not quite as reliable as dosing by weight, I had no complaints about dosing consistency. I ran all my dose tests in triplicate and never had more than 0.2 grams of variation between the three doses.

It’s Wifi-enabled, so you can connect with the Mahlkonig database to find established settings for different coffee preparation methods and access firmware updates.

Notes on cleaning

The X54 is an impressively tidy grinder. Mahlkonig evidently has a static reduction trick or two up their sleeve. Even after several hours of testing, I faced very few stray grounds on my counter.

The grind catcher tray and grind chute are magnetically attached, making them simple to clean. Likewise, the hopper is easy to remove to gain access to the burrs, and a kill switch inside ensures that the grinder can’t turn on until the hopper is correctly back in place.

Classic Mahlkonig Design

If you’ve ever worked in a commercial coffee shop with a Mahkonig grinder, you’ll find similar design cues here on their first home model. Of course, the X54 has a smaller footprint, but the circular body and programming display will look very familiar. 

Also familiar? The iconic tall, conical bean hopper.

This prominent design feature makes sense in a coffee shop, where a Malhkonig grinder is a showpiece, and high turnover mandates a high-capacity hopper. At home? Not so much. The towering 500 g hopper makes the X54 home grinder an impractical 17 inches tall and seems like a design decision rooted in brand consistency rather than function. 

Fortunately, you can opt for a shorter 250 g hopper instead. I don’t think this was available when I first considered this grinder a few years ago, so I suspect it was developed based on user feedback. With the short hopper, the overall height drops to a more reasonable 14.8 inches.

The rest of the design is as well-considered as you’d expect from a company that has been building and innovating some of the world’s best grinders for nearly 100 years (2).

The universal portafilter holder is large and sturdy, and it keeps a solid grasp on the portafilter.

When not grinding for espresso, you can easily swap it out for the included dual-walled aluminum grounds catch container.

Built To Last?

The build quality of the Mahlkönig is mostly excellent, as is befitting the brand. The engineering is top-notch, and everything fits together in a snug and satisfying way. You can feel that it’s a premium quality grinder when you take the hopper on and off, remove or insert the portafilter holding fork, or adjust the grind setting. 

The X54 is capable of light commercial use, like an espresso cart or pop-up. It’s rated to grind up to 4 pounds a day, and the motor is designed to last for 25,000 shots.

However, I was disappointed to find that the X54 has significantly more plastic components than the brand’s commercial grinders, including a plastic body. I expect more from Mahlkonig, and I certainly expect more at this price point. The majority of competitors offer a more durable aluminum or steel casing.

Does The X54 Offer Good Value?

For me, the value for money is the main sticking point with the X54. It’s priced between $600 and $650. Given the relatively small size of the burrs compared to competitors, it seems clear that you’re paying for the Mahlkonig brand name. But the primarily plastic body suggests that you aren’t getting the expected Mahlkonig quality.

For example, comparably priced prosumer grinders like the Mazzer Mini, the Eureka Mignon Specialita, and the Fiorenzato F4, might perform better for either espresso or drip brewing but lack the range of the X54.

The X54 Allround is more expensive than the Niche Zero or DF64, two other capable all-around grinders. But those are designed for single-dosing, so they are targeted at a slightly different market subset.

I’ve put together this detailed comparison table to give you an idea of how the X54 stacks up against the competition:

	Reviewed item
Manufacturer	Mahlkonig	Eureka	Compak	Baratza	Caedo
Model	X54	Atom 75	K3	Sette 270	E37S
Product category	Prosumer grinder	Prosumer grinder	Prosumer grinder	Prosumer grinder	Prosumer grinder
Housing material	Plastic	Plastic	Aluminum, Stainless steel	Plastic	Plastic
Color options	Black, white, polished aluminum	Black, chrome, white	Black, white, polished aluminum	Black	Black, white
User interface	Knob	Touchscreen	Touch and push knobs	Screen with buttons	Touchscreen
Burr type	Steel flat burr	Steel flat burr	Steel flat burr	Steel conical burr	Steel flat burr
Burr size	54mm	75mm	58mm	40mm	88mm
Grinding output	1-2.8 g/s	4 g/s	7g per 1.5s	3.5-5 g/s	5 g/s
Number of dose settings	No	2	2	Automatic	3
Stepless grind adjustment	Mix of 35 steps and a stepless movement between	Yes	Yes	No (39 grind settings)	Yes
Motor speed	1050RPM	1400 RPM	1640 RPM	450RPM	1400 RPM
Hopper size	80 fl oz	10 oz	28 oz	10 oz	21oz / 56oz (upgraded)
Easy to clean	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Programmable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Loudness	Quiet	Quiet	Somewhat	Loud	Quiet
Weight	288 oz / 8 kg	320 oz / 9 kg	192 oz / 5.5 kg	144 oz / 4 kg	432 oz / 12.2 kg
Dimensions	20 x 13.5 x 10 inches	10.5 x 7.2 x 17.25 inches	19.5 x 6.7 x 14.37 inches	5.25 x 9.5 x 15.75 inches	17 x 8.3 x 12.2 inches
Warranty	1 year	1 year	1 year	1 year	3 years
Price	$599-649	$1399	$697.2	$399.95	$1785
	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE

Edit Table

Don’t Buy the X54 Allround Grinder If…

• You don’t use an espresso machine – If you only brew drip coffee, don’t drop the extra cash on an all-around grinder. Instead, I’d steer you towards the Eureka Mignon Filtro, Baratza Virtuoso, or Fellow Ode Gen 2.

• You prefer a conical burr grinder – The debate between conical and flat burrs rages among coffee pros. Some prefer the cleaner cup of flat, while others like the heavier body yielded by conical burrs, especially for espresso (3). Consider other grinders like the Niche Zero or Baratza Sette if you fall into the latter camp.

• You prefer single dosing – If you prefer a single dose hopper or just want an overall more space-efficient grinder, check out the newly updated Turin DF64. It has an excellent 64 mm flat burr set and costs substantially less than the X54.

• You prefer to grind by weight – If you prefer gravimetric to timed dosing, the obvious choice is the Baratza Vario W+. It lacks the stepless grind adjustment of the X54, but it has an equivalent burr set and integrated scale.

The Verdict

The Mahlkonig X54 Allround Home Coffee Grinder is an exciting new addition to the market with outstanding versatility for anyone who likes brewing coffee AND pulling espresso shots. 

As you’d expect from a trusted quality brand with the storied history of Mahlkonig, its first foray into the home sector, while not perfect, is already one of the most impressive all-around coffee grinders on the market. I’d just love to see them eliminate some plastic or lower the price.

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